Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 23. (Budapest, 2004)

Kornélia MAJOR: The Park of Loyalty and Filial Piety. Chen Yingzhen's Latest Short Stories

punishment takes place in proportion of these. Chen does not call for the jury but warns us that as long as we are not willing to face our past and do not shoulder who we are, we will find no rest. At the first glance, Ma Zhengtao and Lin Biao have little in common, yet their fates intertwine around the end of their life. The feature they share is that Taiwan is the "home" of both of them. What is more, they live in the very same town. The meeting point is the park where the two do their morning exercises; this is where Ma takes note of Lin Biao and they enter into a short conversation. After that, their ways separate, Ma meets Lin casually, for a couple of times. The Zhongxiao trilogy is characterised by the principle of composition we know from the Shan lu trilogy, that is, we get to know the old protagonists in the present, then suddenly they embark on remembering their past, so we get familiar with the past retrospectively. Yang Bin has the opportunity to return home after decades and when he faces a new world at home, his memories come up while he is talking with a fellow countrymen. Ma Zhengtao's life changes when he catches the sight of Lin Biao; it is not the conditions of his life that change but something inside him: his long-repressed, horrifying memories re-emerge. Nevertheless, there are certain features that differ from those of the earlier short stories. One of the differences is that here we are informed about the past directly via the protagonists' remembering, not indirectly (as, for instance, in the Shan lu trilogy). The characters reflect on the past events, they are conscious about what they "committed" thus, their life is an organic continuation of the past. Another (related) difference is that, in the case of the characters of the Zhongxiao trilogy, the break in their soul is not caused by their being disappointed with themselves or with their ideals. The "common folk" get disappointed with the political leaders; as for the "villains" they are not disappointed even with the leaders. Ma Zhengtao has no qualms and always acts in his own interests. He sticks to the Guomindang to the very last, yet not from conviction but from selfish motives. The Guomindang's loss of power takes him by surprise; all of a sudden, he feels endangered. The third-person narrator describes Ma in a most impartial, neutral way. Frequently, we see the events through Ma's indifferent and cynical eyes; consequently, the disclosed horrors are even more shocking. His attitude towards Lin Biao is also much revealing. To survive, Lin always tries to conform every power. Ma despises Lin for acting as a servant and not being able to differentiate between enemy and homeland. He disdains him for serving only in the ancillary crew and not being a real soldier. Lin plays the soldier in his old days - but for Ma, he looks more miserable than the old Japanese peasants enlisted around the end of the war. Ma supported and benefited from the Japanese invasion of Manchuria; yet now he does not understand how one can stick to the symbols of the former coloniser. Ma Zhengtao, being a representative of the mainlanders on Taiwan clearly can not understand and does not want to understand the history of Taiwanese people. But beyond this problem, this kind of indirect characterizing exposes another side of his villainy: being clear-minded traitor, he is destroyer of his own nation. Ding Shihui, a character in Yewu, is a villain resembling Ma Zhengtao. He was a superior of Li Qinghao (the protagonist) at the secret police. Being a typical representative of those who survive everything, he has no doubts; he regards Li's mental disease a kind of weakness, a professional failure. He thinks that unwavering belief in the idea, in the state and in the leader is the basis of effective investigation work. He is proud of himself, since he has never wavered. Although he is afraid of the new regime and considers moving abroad, it soon turns out that he has nothing to worry about. As a colleague of his says at the end of the short story, "...as far as fight against the communist and the safety of our homeland are concerned, no matter how times change, they who get the power will have nobody to rely on but us."

26 He is not disillusioned with the power, in contrast with Li, an average man, who is tortured by doubt: how can it happen that those who have been imprisoned and tor-